Frisco - Zojirushi Indoor Grill

Frisco, are you still loving your grill after having it for awhile?  I've been waiting to see how it held up for you before purchasing one.  I see it online for $75.99 plus shipping.  Does that sound about right?   Would you purchase it again if this one wore out?

Living in a condo,  I generally just use a cast iron pan, but would love an alternative.

Thanks!

yeah Frisco, tell more about this grill and specifically is it hard to clean up?  diane

 
Hey Diane,

See my post below.

In a nutshell.....I hate washing a coffee cup......

The Zoji is "Not Bad" you have to hand wash (which I tend to do with everything......never got the hang of the dish washer or ever had a family to wash large amounts of stuff)

Gotta keep the "Electrical Socket" out of the wet..... hold it at an angle.....use a brush with Lemon Fresh Joy (my preference) and the non stick surface cleans up pretty easy/fast.....do front and back . Re line the drip pan with foil and your ready to go again. As mentioned below I don't wa**** every time.... kind of a "grill" mentality. I do wa**** after fish....oh and with fish....just take the Zoji outside to grill fish if you want....

frisco

He's probably out playing in the sunshine.   *sigh*

Just bought one, on his suggestion and we just love it. Tastes as good as our old gas barbeque, that we had to replace every few years for beaucoup bucks. The grill has added a new dimension of fun for me in cooking up fun food items. Hard to believe everything tastes so good, as good as barbeque. Tonight I used it right in the kitchen and there was no grease mess, no smoke mess. I bought it on Amazon for about $69.00 (cannot remember if shipping was free or not.) Best little goodie I have bought in ages.

 
Hey Lee,

Sorry for the delay......

Been at my nephews Baseball tournament the last 4 nights in a row and been skimming OH.

Yeah, I love the thing !!!! Use it almost daily. (I even bought a second one)

When on sale at a store in San Jose (Mitsuwa:http://www.mitsuwa.com/) I paid $54 plus tax.

The only "Tip" I would have is sometimes I use one of those aluminum foil pans as a cover to get some baking while grilling action going on. Oh.... and line the drip pan with foil for easy clean up.

There is an Asian Family Style way of cooking/eating that works out great for us Slow VSG eaters.....It's called "Yakiniku" just google it and you will get the idea.... basically cook as you eat....you control the amount and tempo and your always eating HOT food.

Note: A few days ago I was at Costco and bought a Wolfgang Puck combo electric grill and griddle....haven't tried it yet....It was $49.00

UPDATE: I was curious and hungry so I went down and tested the Wolfgang Puck Unit 

Pros:

- Flat top side works pretty good! But not really worth it just for something you can do with a pan.

Cons:

- Seems about 30% bigger..... which makes it harder to handle and takes up a bigger footprint.
- Fat and debris drainage much better on the Zoji.....the Zoji has random slots throughout the cooking surface. The WP has small holes only at one end.
- Rated at 1800 watts..... may need isolated (not shared) circuit for household power. I used it on a commercial 20amp circuit with no problem but household circuits are 15 amp. The Zoji is rated at 1200 watts and gets plenty hot....I use the Zoji on MED in most cases. The WP unit seemed to want to be on a higher level to get the same heat.
- Grill has deeper grooves and is MUCH HARDER to clean and the deep grooves get char/burnt build up cause it has no where to go.....the Zoji has random slots that reduce char/burnt build-up significantly.
- Because of the above mentioned grooves it seems to produce more smoke because of fat and debris having no place to go.

Conclusion:

Zoji all the way..... The WP unit (for me) would end up being another appliance that is a PITA and hardly used.
The Zoji shows much more "Clever Design" when compared to the WP.
I only wash the Zoji like every 2-5 times I use it....some days I use it a couple times. Wipe it down with a paper towel and push the debris down the slots onto the foil lined drip pan kinda like an outdoor grill. I could never get away with that with the WP.
The Zoji "wants" to be used all the time and I have just kept it out and I think that would not happen with the WP.
Zoji is worth the few extra bucks just in design....and in the long run would be much cheaper if you consider price per use.


frisco

No worries Frisco, I knew you were out having fun.  I remember those long weekends of sport tournaments from when Zach played Soccer.  They are time consuming!

After reading your intial Zoji review, I haven't looked at any others.  I have a grill that has a lid, but I never use it.  I like the idea of this open grill.  I like the small footprint because I can leave it on the stove, which I rarely use except for one burner.

I've been to Japan twice, so I'm very familiar with the type of cooking that you're talking about.  I love it!

Supposedly Target carries Zoji so I stopped yesterday after the Obesity Help picnic out in Martinez. They didn't have it.  I'll google the store in San Jose and see if they're in stock.

Thanks for all the tips!  I'm a woman on a mission now.  :)